The X-Men are still fighting for peace with humanity. Unfortunately, a rally in San Francisco goes horribly wrong and one young person finds out that they are a mutant too. Now that person has to try and stop a much larger plot that could end mankind as we know it.

Recommended Age

Minimum Age

Available On...

12

8

PC, Xbox 360, PS3

Overall Fun

Length

Frustration

Violence

Sexuality

Substances

Gambling

6

3

6

6

1

3

0

Mods

Religion

Anti-Law

Community

Sports

Magic

Miscellaneous

0

0

0

0

1

0

3

1. Gameplay

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Overall Fun - 6

There are few comic book series quite like the X-Men. Unlike Batman, Captain America, or most other comic book heroes that focus on the adventures and drama surrounding a single person, the X-Men are an eclectic mix of people, personalities, and powers. If someone can imagine it being created, controlled, or destroyed, the X-Men have included it somewhere along the line. It’s allowed the creators to include a wide variety of conversations and conflicts throughout the decades.

And some iconic characters.

_Unfortunately, I believe that X-Men: Destiny simply didn’t live up to the hype that comes along with anything X-Men. The mutants in the X-Men universe have very specific powers that can lead to some awesome effects. Cyclops has his laser eyes, Magneto controls magnetism, Juggernaut is a human freight train, etc. So when game developers want to give the player the option to control a new mutant but also give the player enough powers to keep an action game interesting, things don’t always work out.

_Players will get the option to play as one of three different mutants, each with a personal backstory that tweaks the conversations in the game. The player will also choose between one of three powers, none of which affect the look of the player’s character. For example, the small Japanese girl can be given super strength and she’ll still be small. While this may seem slight, it ends up being a huge deal. The powers never really seem to fit with the character, so you end up feeling like the characters just put on some awesome energy gloves rather than actually grew into the powers.

Lightning hands here, energy orbs everywhere else.

_As the game progresses, the player will have access to even more awesome abilities that are based on the primary power that the player selected at the beginning of the game. Some of the abilities will be so weak they’re useless, but most of the higher-level abilities will be bone-crushingly awesome.

_The only thing that really detracted from this game was the fact that it was really short. I sat down with it and managed to finish the entire campaign in an afternoon. Yes, there are other characters to play and another faction to align with, but that does little to make me want to replay the entire game.

_Those who are fans of the X-Men series will appreciate what the developers have created, but I expected a lot more from this game.

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Length - 3

This game is surprisingly short but does have some replay value. There are three different choices in powers, three different playable characters, and two different factions that the player can join. However, unless the player is attempting the game on a very high difficulty level, the entire experience can be completed in less than 10 hours.

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Frustration Factor - 4

One of the powers does allow for ranged attacks, but the distance that the attacks covers is still extremely limited. It can be somewhat frustrating when an enemy stays just beyond your reach despite the fact that your powers should go across the playable area.

_One of the enemies, a big walking robot known as a Purifier Stalker, has a machine gun type spray attack. The damage dealt by this attack is relatively insignificant, but if the player is hit by the attack he will be knocked down repeatedly until the attack stops. This is further complicated by the fact that the spray of the rounds is a very large portion of the area in front of the Stalker. It can be extremely frustrating to be constantly knocked around while other enemies continue to attack unharmed by the friendly fire.

Yep, that's fair.

_The placement of the tips and messages is very inconvenient, as they consistently take up a large portion of the screen. Even more frustrating is the fact that these tips do not go away until the back button is pressed, which is often difficult to reach while in combat. The player will then be forced to choose between continuing to fight with a very large blindspot or making himself vulnerable for a few precious seconds while he presses the back button.

Just go away!

_A few of the camera angles were also extremely frustrating. This was particularly obvious for the Sentinel boss battle. In this situation, the camera is put horizontally and the player is given an extremely small area to run around. The player must attempt to avoid attacks with a hampered ability to judge distance. It made the entire fight much more difficult than it had to be.

Avoiding those is not easy.

2. Parental Notices

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Violence - 6

While violence is constant in this game, it is extremely mild. Players will be able to use a variety of powers and abilities to kill enemies. However the normal results of such violence, typically depicted through blood and gore, are completely absent from the game in any form. There is never a bloody enemy or a decapitated head anywhere in the game.

Explosive barrels that don't explode!

_Violence will simply revolve around different colored orbs and slashes hitting an enemy and sending that enemy flying. It’s the kind of thing typically expected from a comic book or Saturday morning cartoon.

Hope he's wearing a helmet.

_The other mutants will have much more specific powers, but the results of these powers are still exactly the same. There is never any blood or gore.

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Sexuality - 1

Emma Frost, one of the X-Men, is clearly portrayed in a sexual manner. Her clothing (or lack thereof) defines her feminine nature and features. She is supposed to be the femme fatale of the X-Men.

Don't get on her bad side, assuming she has a bad side.

_Other than this, sexuality is not a factor in this game.

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Substances - 3

Health and extra power are distributed in the game via little green and blue orbs that pop from some enemies and from big boxes with glass jars. The way that these two substances work is never explained, and no one is ever shown directly consuming the substances.

_In one battle, a boss character takes pure mutant powers that have been extracted from other mutants and injects them straight into his body via a very large multi-needled connector. It’s a very blunt process that seems to work instantaneously.

Why not just one big needle?

_Later, the player will have the choice of keeping the mutant power extract or destroying it. If the player opts to destroy the substance, Gambit throws the substance onto the player, forcing the player to temporarily absorb another mutant’s powers.

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Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3. Other Factors

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Mods - 0

There are no mods available for this game.

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Religion - 0

Religion is not a factor in this game.

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Anti-Law - 0

The game makes a sort of good guy / bad guy differentiation. The “good guys” are the X-Men, who fight (fruitlessly) for peace between humans and mutants. The “bad guys” are the Brotherhood, who fight for mutant domination over humanity. The player will have the ability to choose either side in the game.

_Some of the actions of the Brotherhood may be considered by some to be anti-law and certainly have the potential to get much worse, but in the end the Brotherhood just fights with the antagonist humans who are equally bloodthirsty. I was surprised that the Brotherhood didn’t do more to show their hatred for humans.

_Either way, as a result, anti-law is not a factor in this game.

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Online Community - 0

There is no multiplayer game mode for this game.

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Extreme Sports - 1

Surprisingly, there is very little that one could deem an extreme sport in this game. Players will be occasionally tasked with jumping up and running along railings to get to a higher location.

It can sometimes be a tedious system.

_Some of the X-Men powers may be based in some sort of extreme sport (i.e. Iceman surfing along a sheet of ice while in combat), but these situations are so few and far between that they are hardly even worth mentioning.

If he falls, is that still a wipeout?

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Magic - 0

Even though the mutant abilities may seem magical in nature, the X-Men back story explains that the mutant powers are a direct result of a genetic mutation, a sort of step along the evolutionary ladder. Therefore, magic is not a factor in this game.

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Miscellaneous - 3

Speciesism The continuing drama between the different factions within the X-Men series is a reference to the different sides of the civil rights movement. While Martin Luther King Jr. was not telepathic and Malcolm X could not harness the power of magnetism, the overall problems and messages are exactly the same. The X-Men want to achieve peace with humanity and live cooperatively, while the Brotherhood wants to control humanity and become the dominant species.

_As a result there are many factions, each with their own agendas. The X-Men and Brotherhood are constantly fighting with each other because of their opposing views. There are also a number of human factions that blatantly despise all mutants, even the X-Men, and want them either imprisoned or, in some extreme cases, exterminated.

And you just reached the short list of targets.

_The entire premise of the game is going to revolve around the humans that want to exterminate mutants and the superpowers that manage to use those humans to their own ends. It can be very complicated.

_Kidnapping The antagonists make a habit of kidnapping mutants and extracting their mutant powers. The player will have to go through a few areas and free captured mutants.

_Human Disfigurement After injecting himself with extracted mutant DNA, one of the main antagonists grows to Hulk-like proportions. It’s not a particularly detailed process, but the result is what one would expect from someone taking steroids on steroids.

That doesn't look healthy.

_Mind Control Later in the game, the antagonists manage to create some sort of mutant mind control. The antagonists use this power to control the minds of friendly mutants and use them against the player.